MeteoWorld invites its readers to visit the multimedia WMO Chronology of Weather Science and fly through the history of weather research on the traces of the people and institutions that have supported the progress of Earth System Science!

The Red Cross announced the release of funding to reduce the impacts of extreme winter weather on vulnerable herders following an announcement of Mongolia’s National Agency for Meteorology and Environmental on 2 January that 50% of the country was at risk of an extreme winter. It was the first time that the early action funding mechanism developed by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was used anywhere.

Paving the way for a radical overhaul of the international exchange of observational data which underpin all weather, climate and water services and products, Congress approved the establishment of a Global Basic Observing Network (GBON).

Congress also endorsed a package of measures to strengthen early warnings against hazards like floods and tropical cyclones, and to ensure that these become part and parcel of humanitarian operations. It decided to spur work on a Global Multi-hazard Alert System that would pool information from national and regional systems that already exist, or are being planned.

Heat risks remain a silent disaster. The First Global Forum on Heat and Health, held in Hong Kong, China, from 17 to 20 December 2018, addressed that challenge and launched the Global Heat Health Information Network (the Network). Over the four-day event, 120 interdisciplinary practitioners and researchers from 33 countries provided fresh, real-world perspectives on heat health risk management across diverse fields, such as medical science, urban planning, meteorology, and economics.

The WMO Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP) was launched in 2006 in 5 countries in south-eastern Africa. Today, over 75 countries around the world are benefiting from the project. A recent West Africa SWFDP project workshop in Togo attracted over 90 participants from 15 NMHSs – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. While a Regional Subproject Management Team (RSMT) in Sri Lanka did a first review of progress in the Bay of Bengal SWFDP, updating the Subproject...

A Technical Workshop on Project Preparation for Transformational Climate Resilient Water Project Concepts in Africa for the Green Climate Fund (GFC) in Pretoria, South Africa, on 21 September attracted over 100 participants from 24 countries.

A Joint EUMETSAT and WMO Training Course on the Use of Satellite Data and Products for Drought Monitoring and Agricultural Meteorology was organized for Regional Associations II and VI at EUMETSAT Headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, from 22 to 25 October.

Climate services are a critical tool for improving food security, particularly in Cameroon, which has been adversely affected by natural and man-made disasters for the past three decades. Training farmers...